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ICC drops TV referrals for Ashes

Umpire Tony Hill signals for a referral during England's Caribbean series

This summer's Ashes series in England will not feature the controversial referral system, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided.

The system lets players request that umpire's decisions are reviewed by a third official using TV pictures.

It was trialled in England's series in the West Indies but following criticism the ICC has decided to make changes.

It wants to give umpires more training, and fine tune the technology, before a planned launch in October 2009.

The decision to permanently implement the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) in a "phased roll-out" from October 2009 was made by the ICC's cricket committee, chaired by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd.

However, the committee can only make recommendations and the final decision on whether the new system will become a permanent feature of Test cricket will be taken by the ICC's chief executives committee and the main board at their meeting at Lord's from 22-26 June.

"I'm excited that the committee concluded the umpire decision review system had a positive effect on the game," said ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat.

"It reduced the number of incorrect decisions and also cut down on instances of player dissent.

"We will seek, with the agreement of the ICC chief executives, to roll out the system from October 2009.

"The time ahead of that date will allow us to firm up the playing conditions, technical specifications and protocols, ensure additional training for match officials, and further brief the players so that the process can be successfully implemented."

Cricket's governing body also looked into the feasibility of holding day-night Test matches, and the matter will now be further investigated.

Day-night games have been part of one-day cricket since the 1970s, but Tests have always been played in daylight.

"The committee recognised the need to promote Test cricket and was happy for talks on this matter to advance. However, before it gave the concept the green light it agreed several aspects needed to be firmed up first," said Lorgat.

The meeting also covered areas such as a possible maximum weight for bats, improving over-rates and the impact of "switch-hitting" - when the batsman switches stance from right to left handed, or vice versa, just before the delivery.

And ideas were brainstormed "to ensure one-day international cricket remains relevant and popular" amid the rise of the truncated Twenty20 version of the game".

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